Dialog from the Black Radical Congress list, October 1999

Note:
This is a draft of a document written for the organization CLUE (Clergy
and Laity United for Economic Justice) to explain the ethical grounding
for the struggle for a living wage for workers. Our Organization US works
in this coalition which has been able to get the City of Los Angeles, Los
Angeles County and the Los Angles Airport (LAX) to adopt a living wage
policy. The struggle continues to make the living wage a fundamental
policy in both public and private work sites. The statement is a model in
that it reaffirms the Kawaida position that in drawing from the best of
the world's ethical traditions, we can create common ground for collective
action in creating the communities, societies and world we want and
deserve to live in.

Seminar in Social Theory and Practice XXII
Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies
July 17-24, 1999
By Dr. Maulana Karenga

ETHICS OF A LIVING WAGE

One of the most important struggles for social and economic justice of our
times is the expanding and ongoing struggle for a living wage. The
struggle is essentially directed towards securing for low-income workers a
wage which provides for them with adequate means to support themselves and
their families, rise above the poverty level which entraps them and live a
life of dignity and decency due every human being. But the implications of
this struggle for us as moral and religious persons and for society are
profound and far-reaching, for it speaks to some of the most cherished
moral concepts and concerns in all our faith traditions.

RESPECT FOR THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

The struggle for a living wage speaks first to the central moral principle
of respect for the dignity of the human person. We take seriously the
sacredness of the human person and reaffirm the fundamental moral
conviction that humans are in the image of God and thus are possessors of
a dignity, an inherent worthiness which is inalienable and inviolable.
Within this moral understanding we, of necessity, link the right to a life
of dignity with the right to a life of decency, a life in which persons
have for themselves and their families adequate food, clothing, housing,
education, health care and physical and economic security and thus are
able to live a good and meaningful life. And the living wage is an
indispensable way to achieve these social and human goods.

RESPECT FOR THE DIGNITY OF WORK

Secondly, the struggle for a living wage speaks to the fundamental moral
principle of the dignity of work. In our ethical traditions, the
worthiness of work is grounded in its being both a reflection of the
Divine act of creation and a process by which we engage in co-creation,
practice responsible stewardship and realize the essential meaning and
mission of human life to constantly bring good into the world. Thus, we
reaffirm the right and responsibility to engage in purposeful and
productive work as far as one is able, as essential to a person's dignity,
self-respect and sense of purpose and worthiness in the world. And we
maintain that workers have a right to just treatment on the job and in
separation and this includes a just wage, adequate benefits, satisfactory
working conditions, economic security and the right to organize, engage in
collective action and participate in all decisions that affect them.

CARE AND SUPPORT FOR THE POOR AND VULNERABLE

Thirdly, the struggle for a living wage highlights and upholds the
essential principle of moral obligation to care for and support the poor
and most vulnerable among us in their struggle to empower themselves and
live full and meaningful lives. In fact, the heart of the living wage
struggle is to improve the lives and life-chances of the poor and
low-income workers and to contribute meaningfully, not only to the easing
of their poverty, but also to the ultimate elimination of it. Moreover,
this struggle reminds us of a fundamental teaching in our faith traditions
that a key moral measurement of any society or economy is the quality of
life and treatment of the vulnerable and poor. Thus, in a larger sense,
this struggle speaks to our conception of and commitment to a truly just
and good society.

IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE

Fourthly, the struggle for a living wage calls for our reaffirmation of
the foundational moral principle of justice in and for the world. For just
as dignity is the central moral pillar in our conception of the human
person's worthiness in the world, justice is an indispensable way in which
we demonstrate due respect for this inherent and inalienable worthiness.
Whether we talk of economic justice or the larger more inclusive concept
and practice of social justice, the principle speaks to the moral
obligation to give a person what is due, deserved, fair and rightful,
whether in the general sphere of life or in the specific context of work.

In conclusion, the struggle for a living wage has become a mirror and
measure of our commitment to some of our most cherished moral principles
which undergird and make possible our conception and realization of the
just and good society. We are thus morally compelled to commit ourselves
as religious and moral persons to active and ongoing support of workers
and the labor movement and to engage fellow members of our churches,
mosques, synagogues, temples and others in doing likewise. This means
making common cause with working people and the unions which represent
them, lending added moral authority to their just claims, standing and
walking with them and collaborating with them in joint activities to
secure economic justice at the work site, and in legislative,
administrative and management venues. It also means that we constantly
join together with working people and the labor movement on common ground
in other struggles to build the moral communities, just society and better
world we all deserve and want to live in.

Here is something to think about: If 30 years after WW2, a Nazi came along
and tried to convince us that he now works at a Jewish community center
with kids, should we now forgive his previous crimes? So now Karenga and
US are "champions of the working class with a living wage campaign in Los
Angeles?"

There are those in the contemporary Black nationalist movements who will
do anything to rehabilitate this guy despite his crimes against the
people. Farrakhan had him as a speaker at the Million Man March in 1995,
and he has been giving talks on college campuses with his Kawaida cultural
nationalist mumbo-jumbo. Like neo-Nazi holocaust revinionsists, there are
those who claim there is no "proof" that Karenga or US had anything to do
with the shootings and killings of 5 members of the Black Panther Party in
Los Angeles and San Diego, that he is not/was never a police informer and
provocateur, and that he should now be rehabilitated in this period. He
himself says now that the Black Panther members in L.A., Jon Huggins and
Bunchy Carter, who were murdered by US thugs on the UCLA campus in 1968
"egged the whole thing on and got what they deserve", and other Black
nationalists have said some nonsense like "they were fighting over a
woman", rather than that the FBI initiated all this and they were willing
tools.

This points to how corrupt the contemporary movement really is, Karenga
and the US helped to destroy the Black revolutionary movement of the
1960's, and no good works in this period will erase that, especially since
no one ever paid for these murders and counter-revolutionary acts. We
can't be weak on things like this for some perceived short term gain.
These are my personal opinions, not those of a group.

> This points to how corrupt the contemporary movement really is,
Karenga
> and the US helped to destroy the Black revolutionary movement of the
> 1960's, and no good works in this period will erase that, especially since
> no one ever paid for these murders and counter-revolutionary acts. We
> can't be weak on things like this for some perceived short term gain.
> These are my personal opinions, not those of a group.
>
> Lorenzo Komboa Ervin

Hotep. We forgive our enemies easily. If we can find it in our hearts and
conscience to sit down with those who enslaved our humanity and to
particpate in its denigration even today, wy can we not find it in those
same hearts and consciences to see change in our brothers and sisters? I
believe the errors of the ways must be acknowledged and recompense made,
however, I must speak for forgiveness in the wilderness of a misled and
shattered people. Few of us have the lofty credentials to meet the test
put forth popularly by the one called Jesus who said that the one who was
without blemish should render the judgement and punishment.

I am coming in very late on this discussion and do not quite understand
the context, but I do wish to raise one thing.

As someone who had serious political differences with Karenga in the 60s I
would advise caution in terms of how those differences get handled now. I
am reminded of stories from El Salvador of the sort of factional wars
which went on among various groups which ultimately had to be put aside in
order to build the FMLN.

Don't get me wrong. I am not ignoring differences. But it is also the
case that unity of action can be found, including with those with who we
have disagreed. We must always keep in mind the way in which the US
government via COINTELPRO exploited differences within the Left generally,
and the African-American movement in particular.

Thanks very much Bill Fletcher for bringing the gravity of history to what
can easily become another energy-dissapating and focus-destroying
development. Time is simply too important and collective efforts too
limited for us to return AGAIN to fratricide, whether oral or otherwise.

My first response to the postings received. I would wish to know how many
of you are old enough to remember the allegations against US from the
60's. In addition, I would love to understand how the 60's relate the
issues of today?

Brother Karenga explained his position(s) in Detroit, approximately 4
years ago to numerous activists. He was challenged on the same issues
that have been raised by the post that I'm responding to. Most here
understood and moved to the next level. Does that exonerate the brother?
It was never proved that Cointel was not the agent that planted the
stories. Yes, in Detroit, the brother was exonerated. His explanations
and analysis were accepted, by scholars, historians and activists. We
still know that he was a cultural nationalist, and still espouses the
same. Continuity is a point we must examine.

A question still remains about recent posts. Why is the brother being
attacked about actions during the 60's? Is it because we just learned
about certain allegations, or have we obtained facts? I must state that
Karenga's analysis on several subjects have been scholarly and right on
target. Detroit has enacted a "Living Wage" ordinance, over the
objections of a Black mayor! I must state, without the discussion or
entailed psuedo-intellectual analysis of a need or intent.

I think in the case of Ron Karenga, it is a leopard can't change his
spots. It is a matter of trust. During a time when the African community
was at it's strongest phase for fighting for self-determination, you have
folks like Ron Karenga, a government spy, screwing things up. I heard him
do an interview on a radio program with Steve Cokely once (got it on tape)
and a brother called in to ask him why he got a crowd of people all
stirred up and then was whisked away in a police car (not under arrest, I
might add), well, the scholarly Ron Karenga you have described here was
not the one that replied on the radio. He started talking about this
Brotha's mama and everything, never intelligently addressed the allocation.
I have no respect for this man.

I would argue that the issuses about Karrenga are well founded, and best
defined by the Nazi Soldier parable that was offered. We all know that
COINTELPRO had their hand in all events the pertained to the 60's and
might have been the true cause behind the friction. I think the question
these scholars and activists are asking is "Was he a willing player?" In
my view (which I came to having met man at our conference in Chicago and
by some of his statments then), it is easy for us to say "Hell yes he was
willing." Too say activsts and scholars in Detriot has forgiven him does
not mean that other activists and scholars elsewhere has....I honestly
believe in my heart that " a leopard does not change his spots" even
thirty years later.

I would hope that we would all refrain from rewriting history to suit our
rhetoric. I would be the first to agree that Karenga committed crimes
against the people. And yes, it was members of the LA arm of US who were
involved in the shootings of Black Panther members at UCLA. However, all
members of US were not willing dupes of the FBI, nor was US the only
organization at the time which was infiltrated by police agents and
informants. To say that US singlehandedly is responsible for the demise
of the Black Power movement is to give Karenga much more credit than he
deserves. Finally, there were people who went to jail, and or, into
hiding for many years as a result of the shootings at UCLA. They and
there families paid a heavy price. Karenga also spent time in jail though
for other offenses.

Are we going to continue to let the FBI and counterintelligence programs
drive wedges between us? I do not agree with everything that Ron Karenga
says or does, now or in the past. But there are plenty of black folks
that I don't agree with. That does not equate them with Nazis. That does
not mean that we have to disregard someone's sincere efforts to contribute
to meaningful change in our community.

>Don't get me wrong. I am not ignoring differences. But it is also
the
>case that unity of action can be found, including with those with who we
>have disagreed. We must always keep in mind the way in which the US
>government via COINTELPRO exploited differences within the Left generally,
>and the African-American movement in particular.
>
>Bill Fletcher, Jr.

The directives given by the ancestors speak through us all. The
manipulation by the enemy IS and was real. Operational Unity was hampered
by many factors, not the least of which was the loss of Malcolm as an
advisor; to a lessor degree the loss of King due to his early willingness
to make deals with white folks. This is painfully evident as it is
captured in the "Eyes on the Prize" series that captures Martin and Kwame
Toure arguing over a difference in tactics. Martin was in control, but he
was fearful of the effects the tactics urged by Kwame would get out of
hand. This incident was shot during the Selma to Montgomery March. It
demonstrates the extreme differences that existed within the movemment.
Martin had been cultivated by white Powerful people in meetings that Kwame
was kept out of or never knew about. In these meetings deals were made
where he (Martin) was urged to contain the "radical" element. In exchange
for that he was assured money, exposure and projection, and the promise of
urging the authorship of statues that would dismantle discriminatory laws
and practices. Karenga, is an interesting study because of the things
that he is alleged to have done. Despite the whole 'Co In Tel
Pro...connection with Karenga...i agree about coming to our own
independent conclusion that he was indeed a willing participating lover of
the enemy of our people!!!

Karenga's presence has caused many of Los Angeles' conscious people to not
have any thing to do with Kwanzaa...were it not for my brother Akile's
Kwanzaa Gwaride Festival in Leimert Park I would not want anything to do
with Kwanzaa. He has made a pact with the Black Liberation Army....my
brother has shown that Karenga was just the vehicle through which a
message was supposed to spread amongst our people. It just so happens
that the message came through the same time that other messages were being
given by many others of our people. Also we have to see beyond the
messenger and focus upon the message itself....my brother Akile, quotes
Dr. Alfred Ligon of the Aquarian Spiritual Center: April 29th, 1992 Uranus
and Neptune were conjoined within one degree. Astrologers of old have
known that no one knew the Age of Aquarius would begin but that it would
happen when the outer planets in our solar system were conjoined. Kwanzaa
has a harbinger of the Age shift from Pisces to Aquarius. Aquarius, or in
Yoruba parlance Shango (Sango) is the Champion of Justice; also termed
"High John the Conqueror" the great hero for justice during our chattel
slave experience/Colors red and white/ number 6. So prevalent was the
issue of Justice on that day that my brother refers to the date on his
Kwanzaa Kalenda as the "No Justice No Peace Rebellion" the signature event
that launched the Age of Shango. Kwnzaa is "Sango'esque" in that it was a
clarion call for us to look at our beginnings. Anza, the root of the word
Kwanzaa means beginning or start. Utilized in martial classes taught by
movement self defense masters as the command to "Begin!" That (Anza) is
the beginning of the Kwanzaa Holidays according to my brother because Anza
is the name of the Winter Solstice Celebration.

Literally Kwanzaa was and IS urging us to look to our own beginnings. The
desire to surface could not be suppressed. Even the lighting of the Black
or (as my brother says DuDu?double black) Candle is actually a candle lit
for Asaru/Osirius who according to the late Dr. Chek' Anta Diop whose date
of worship was as late as the5th Century CE was Dec. 26th. According to
Ivan Van Sertima "Asaru" was also named the Lord of the Perfect Black. My
brother contends that that name is presently spoken of by the Yoruba and
the Benin people of Nigeria as their sacred ancester - Odudua which would
translate as Perfect Black/Great Black. Odudua was the name adoped by the
Nationalist camp as the Ancestral energy of the Black race. Olokun is the
Orisha of the Black race. You see Kwanzaa when we look beyond Karenga
brings in quite an additional amount of information.

We cannot let our anger for Karenga and the choices he made stop our
collective growth. The show will go one....stopping for no one. We will
sort out the people and the pieces and move forward. Operational unity
will come from us working together. How we handle the issue of our future
is beyond Karenga. He was wise enough to see the future to some extent.
This is evident by his recent publishing of the book: "Odu Ifa" In
reality, again according to my brother, Karenga during the late sixties
Black Power Conferences opposed the now Oba of Oyotunji Village (SC) as
they competed for the position of Minister of Culture as expressed at the
beginning of the Republic of New Africa. The Yoruba prevailed over the
Kawaidists. Karenga's recent sojourn into Ifa would indicate that there is
something in the Yoruba connection that cannot be overlooked. Just as he
wrote something on Kmt posturing a degree of authority over that subject,
he expressing authority over Ifa, the ancient book of Tcheuti. The Hemp
movement is a perfect example of how we as a people are fearful of
expressing our feelings. Many of us utilize hemp in our personal lives yet
we don't respect our selves enough to go out and get letters from doctors
so that we can bypass these folks hemp prohibition laws....'BACK THAT ASS
UP!!'

I am out of the country and frankly started not to revisit this issue, but
will just say this: The rationale about unity in action may be a good one
if this were just a question of competing ideas alone, (say about Living
wages, but I/we support those campaigns wherever they are) or honest
differences among political forces, but that is not what I/we have been
talking about at all. Ron Karenga is an outright traitor and killer, and
US was a tool of the FBI/LAPD, simple as that. Five black Panthers were
killed, 2 at UCLA, but three others in San Diego, and he worked along with
other traitors to defeat the Black revolution of the 1960's. What does
that have to do with now? First, principles among revolutinary organizers
and also the distinct possibility that he/US will do the same in this
period.

But let's cut to the chase: I frankly believe that many folks who come
down in favor of "rehabilitating" Karenga are people who just disagree
with the revolutionary legacy of the Black Panther Party and are down with
US as both a past and present political movement, or have some weak ideal
about Black/class Unity. This is the kind of *soft Leftism* that exists in
this period, so liberal that even counter-revolutionaries are given
credence and organizational support without in anyway answering for their
crimes.

IMHO, such unity is not possible with class or race enemies. I/we will not
work with Karenga, Cotton Smith, Butler (the snitch in Geronimo Pratt's
case), or any other turncoat Panther/police infiltrator regardless of his
current role or campaign he is involved in. In truth, I feel that
revolutionary justice should have been served upon him (Karenga) long ago,
and then this discussion would be totally moot. That's all I have to say.
I appreciate everyone's views, but it does not change my mind at all.

> IMHO, such unity is not possible with class or race
enemies. I/we will not
> work with Karenga, Cotton Smith, Butler (the snitch in Geronimo Pratt's
> case), or any other turncoat Panther/police infiltrator regardless of his
> current role or campaign he is involved in. In truth, I feel that
> revolutionary justice should have been served upon him (Karenga) long ago,
> and then this discussion would be totally moot. That's all I have to say.
> I appreciate everyone's views, but it does not change my mind at all.
>
> Lorenzo Komboa Ervin

The best revolutionary justice in such a case is ostracism and vigilance,
and especially vigilance that alerts us to the kind of ideology and
tactics US and its strategists used to befuddle minds (extremist rap
coupled with mystical racist mumbo jumbo, for one thing).

I have become concerned about the tone and tenor of this discussion. I
think that it is both irresponsible and outright wrong to engage in a
written discussion about meeting out 'revolutionary justice.'

The issue for us is that there are forces with who we have VERY serious
political differences. In some cases, those differences have been violent.

We must judge, on the basis of what people are doing now, what their base
is, what THEIR summation of their own history is, etc., how, when and
where we can work together at all.

There is certainly a serious historical discussion which can and should
take place about a variety of events which took place in the late 1960s
and early 1970s. I just keep coming back to the manner in which the forces
of evil utilized contradictions within our movement to encourage various
interpretations of 'revolutionary justice'. This went to obscene lengths,
leading to various kinds of purges, physical torture, etc.

As I said earlier, I believe that we are obligated to proceed VERY
carefully given the history of disruptions with which we have had to deal.

The principles of unity of the BRC set credible lines of demarcation,
despite how broad they are. There are forces we may work with who will
NEVER be able to operate within the BRC because they have fundamental
disagreements with us and we with them. But that does not stop working
together.

I suggest caution with words; rigor in our analysis; principle in values;
and flexibility in the united front.

>The principles of unity of the BRC set credible lines of
demarcation,
>despite how broad they are. There are forces we may work with who will
>NEVER be able to operate within the BRC because they have fundamental
>disagreements with us and we with them. But that does not stop working
>together.

In the late 60's and early 70's I was a member of the Black Student Union
at Los Angeles City College. In our BSU there were Panthers, US
Organization members, Muslims, et al. As I remember, I was the only
internationalist communist on the central committee. As such,
theoretically, I was closest to the Black Panther Party. My closeness to
the party trancended mere ideological similarity. My closest cousin was a
member of the party and my upatairs neighbor, Julio Butler (yes, that
Julio Butler), recruited me to teach political education to Sec 3-A of the
party located on Adams Blvd. A highly placed well known member of the
party gave my brother a .38 to protect me in my work at LACC. I say all
that to say this:

In the BSU Central Committee, consisting of some 12 or 13 members, I as
minister of political affairs, often found myself outvoted (esp. as
regards working with 'white folks'.) That was fine with me. That was the
temper of the times. Didn't bother me for, when outvoted in committee, I
would take my position to the general body and often as not I would find
that the overwhelming majority would agree with the position that if we
are going to close down the school, fight the police, defy the powers that
be, then if there were 'white folks who would take the a*s whippings and
kick some too then hey! they are comrades too. Amongst those members who
sided with this position were two brothers, Rafiki and Sikivu, who were
rocks. These two were members of the US Organization.

Panther or US. Despite the shootings at UCLA, Carver Jr High, wherever.
At LACC, we were beyond that. Why, you ask? Because we had a job to do.
And we did it. We conducted strikes. Strikes so bold that Nixon went on
television talking about our 'arrogance'. Yeah, well f*ck him with his
dead a*s. The point is this: Leadership whenever it sets itself up as
being that (Yeah, I'm talking about Karenga) is often, most times, nay
always corrupt. But the foot soldiers, the workers, the people, the
humans are always capable of humanity. As with yesteryear so with
tomorrow. There are those who tell me that my friend, my brother and my
comrade Mpinduzi of the US Organization is but a stooge of Karenga. That
he has to report before he can arrive at a decision. That it is the
Maulana who is speaking when he gives voice to his words. If, indeed,
that is so then perhaps it is a different Karenga who is speaking. For I
hear a voice that is concerned about the state of the wretched of this
earth. A voice echoing of a past when Sikivu and Rafiki stood unwavering.

I cannot forget the transgressions of the past but perhaps I understand
them better. For the US Organization was not only the attackers but were
attacked, villified and demeaned by those who were attacked, villified and
demeaned. We made so many mistakes back then. Are we condemned to repeat
them?

I have had a series of concerns about this particular debate, i.e., about
Karenga. i have been concerned about the tone and some of the language,
as well as context.

The question we must ask now, is something like, what is at stake in this
debate? As far as i know no one is asking to recruit Karenga, and the
last time i checked, he did not put in an application to join.
Understanding what happened in the late 60s and early 70s is far more
complex than a focus on one person. There was certainly the role of
COINTELPRO in many organizations, cultural nationalist, revolutionary
nationalist, internationalist, helping to destroy from within. Yet, i
would argue that they could not have been as successful as they were had
there not been unhealthy conditions in so many of our organizations. i am
talking about rampant sexism; dogmatism; hero-worship; reluctance or
hostility toward criticism and self-criticism; sectarianism...the list
could go on and on. The agents of evil were able to operate in that
environment the way that flies nest in manure. i believe that we should
be focusing our attention much more on those issues.

As with any movement for liberation, we will have to contend with a
variety of political tendencies. Even where the trust level is low or
virtually non-existant, we will need to determine whether the social base
of a specific political force necessitates that we collaborate,
irrespective of our personal feelings or political analysis. This was a
point of view rarely understood by many forces on the Left within the
African-American movement in the late 60s, and on into the 70s and 80s.

i am hoping that we get it right this go round.

In unity,

Bill Fletcher, Jr.

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